It was just ‘one of those days' for A's

OAKLAND -- The A's clubhouse was quiet for the first time since August 23. Without the music playing, players, reporters, and team personnel all talked in conticent tones. The prevailing silence was the end result of a 8-3 loss to the division-rival Angels that snapped the A's nine-game winning streak. After the game A's players chalked it up as "just one of those days." The Angels pounced early. They tagged starting pitcher Tommy Milone for five runs on a career-high 10 hits and knocked him out of the game after three innings -- the shortest outing of his career. "They made him work pretty hard," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "We're not used to seeing an outing like that off of Milone, especially here at home."Milone is typically very tough at the Coliseum where he succeeds in pitching to contact. On this day seven of his 10 hits allowed were singles that found holes or fell in."Tommy threw the ball well," catcher Derek Norris said. "Obviously he's not going to be happy with the results, but it's just one of those days where nothing went his way."The Angels scored two runs in the second, two in the third, and one in the fourth inning before Milone was removed. Torii Hunter led off the third inning with a home run and Vernon Wells led off the fourth with a blast of his own. Wells' shot was the knockout blow for Milone. "I felt like I was able to throw strikes just not where I wanted to," Milone said. "It was over the plate and leaving it up in the zone."Josh Reddick drove in the A's first run in the fourth inning. In the next inning, down 5-2, he had a chance to swing the game back in Oakland's favor. With the bases loaded and two outs he ended up popping out to end the inning. At that point the momentum in the game shifted back in the Angels favor and seemed to remain there.Angels starting pitcher C.J. Wilson has been inconsistent this season. He snapped an 11- start winless streak in his last outing. On Monday he did just enough to earn his 11th win against the A's. He left the game after narrowly escaping Oakland's fifth inning rally. "He was nit-picking around the plate which is the way he works," Norris said. "He brought a pretty good game today." A's third baseman Josh Donaldson was the only A's player to hit a home run off Wilson on Monday. His fifth-inning shot to center field is the fifth homer he's hit since being recalled on August 14. He has now hit a home run in four of his past five games. His long ball extended the A's team home-run streak to 10 games. "We're getting a lot of production out of him right now down towards the bottom of the order," Melvin said. "He's got a lot of confidence going right now no matter who he's facing."Chris Carter also went deep, hitting his 14th homer of the season in the eighth inning off reliever LaTroy Hawkins. Silence in the clubhouse aside, the A's aren't overly concerned with their first loss in 10 days. They still lead the American League Wild Card race by one game over Baltimore and are 2.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay. The Orioles, and Rays both won on Monday.It really was just one of those days."Nobody expected us to run the table the whole way out," Donaldson said. "It's unfortunate that it's the Angels, we wanted to beat these guys."